Baking Powder & Baking Soda

Baking Powder & Baking Soda– Both baking powder and baking soda are chemical leavening agents that cause batters to rise when baked. Always add your leavening ingredients to the other dry ingredients such as flour and spices that are in your recipe and be sure to sift all of those ingredients together before adding to the recipe.

Baking powder consists of baking soda, one or more acid salts (cream of tartar and sodium aluminum sulfate) plus cornstarch to absorb any moisture so a reaction does not take place until a liquid is added to the batter. Most baking powder used today is double-acting which means it reacts to liquid and heat and happens in two stages.

Baking powders are not all the same. But what they share is an acid leavening agent, an alkaline leavening agent and a filler. The filler is usually cornstarch and is added to keep it from absorbing moisture. Most baking powders are “double-acting” meaning they produce an initial reaction upon mixing with a batter, and then a second during the baking process.

The first reaction takes place when you add the baking powder to the batter and it is moistened. One of the acid salts reacts with the baking soda and produces carbon dioxide gas. The second reaction takes place when the batter is placed in the oven. The gas cells expand causing the batter to rise. Because of the two stages, baking of the batter can be delayed for about 15-20 minutes without it losing its leavening power.

Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate is about four times as strong as baking powder. Baking soda starts to react and release carbon dioxide gas as soon as it is added to the batter and moistened, so you will not wwant to mix your batter and let it sit on the counter. Bake it immediately.

Single-acting baking powder reacts with a water-based ingredient to form bubbles as soon as the ingredients are mixed. If you wait too long to bake or mix it too long these bubbles will escape and your cakes will fall flat.

Double-acting baking powder produces some bubbles when the ingredients are mixed, but most of the rising occurs once heat is applied.

Baking Powder will lose it’s power eventually, so to check if it is still good, add a teaspoonful to a half cup of boiling water. If it boils rapidly, the baking powder is still good.

How Do I Substitute Between Baking Powder and Baking Soda? You will use 2-3 times more baking powder than baking soda. The extra ingredients in the baking powder will have an effect on the taste of whatever you are making, but this isn’t necessarily bad. Eliminate the salt in the recipe if you are subbing in baking powder for soda.
So, if the recipe called for 1 tsp baking soda, you would use 3 tsp baking powder.
Baking Soda & Powder- 1 teaspoon= 5g